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Show Song for Every State Is Need r ; BY OR WILLIAM E BARTON. it is an Immense advantage a state j to have a song, familiar, i;!(iv re Off-I Off-I nnl Wf&--' I ' "' 1 M ! Ml. mWmWmt HmH d&&b Tt Hi- n ! WBtik' lv sB BhsK mm lUsBSBBsMM 8nfl n v3s BssBsa sjfjsjsjggssjB ,, :ind founrl :i melrxM : not (ronfr. but slngnble. 11 owes ns poiiu-, poiiu-, larity chief!) lo the repetition of the state name. , a bill is now pending! as i understand, before the Iowa legislature to adopt cer- tain words as those of tbe State song. ; If tbe single stanza which I 1 ave een j is a fair sample. Hie legislature will I 'lo well to make hosts slowly. Ii is1 I very eas) i"i pass a law making a pgr-1 Ocular song a ?i;i; s, np and it ii not I easy to get rid of II afterward, no mat-I mat-I ler liovv inadciiuate the song. I None of our sijt- song- are adequate.. "Maryland. My Maryland is a song of the Clval nr. and breathes s spirit which no longer represents the sent:- i men! of the state tr wa a frentii i , lo Maryland U rise and rebel against the : federal government fr.r permitting l I ltd p.s through Baltimore on fieir v.a 1 i to Washington, it was written April I 26. 161. by James R Ranrt&U. v native I J r,r Maryland, then In Louisiana, and was' i published In the Xew Orleans Delta. A I week previous, a Massachusetts regiment passing through Baltimore had been fired upon. anl a number of soldiers kl.'Jw'l. The fire was returned, and several clti- :-.ens were killed or injured Some of those killed were members of the mob, but some were onlookers. He wrote In ' The despot s heel Is on thv shore. Mary land ! His torch Is at thy temple door. Maryland ' Avenge the patriotic gore That flecked the streets of Baltimore. And be 'be battle uueen of yore. Maryland! My Maryland'' It requires no argument tp prove that i that appeal no longer represents the sen-! sen-! timeni of Maryland It Is not a whole-j whole-j some song for school children to he taught. It stands a true watermark of war-time feeling, and there is no occasion to apologize for It as such: but u is not worthy of the Maryland of today. Maryland Mary-land needs a new state song tliat looks forward and not back. Kentucky's song has no such belligerent belliger-ent associations It Is one of Stephen Poster's best songs, written for Christy 's Minstrel show, and Is gentle and popular popu-lar But the vicissitudes of an old colored col-ored family, losing their home under foreclosure of a mortgage or like domcs-tice domcs-tice calamity Is not an uplifting theme for the song of a proud commonwealth. "The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky Ken-tucky home. 'Tis summer, th darkeys are gay ; The. corn top's ripe and the meadows aro In bloom. While the birds make music all the day The young folks roll on the little cabin floor. AH merry, all happy and bright: By and by hard times comes a-knocking at tho door. Then my Old Kentucky hor.t Good night" There Is nothing vitriolic about it. as there is about "Maryland. M Maryland,' yet. the losing of a tumble -down darkey tiibin under mortgage is not a Ih.enin to kindle true patriotic sentiment. The song i all rlrlit frtr !) itnrnn.. fr.r- n-Lf.-w I Is written, and for other purposes also, but It Is Inadequate as a state song Illinois has Its state song "Bv thv rivers, gently flowing. Illinois. Illinois; O'er thv prairies verdant growing, Illinois. Illinois. 'mes an echo on the breeie. Rustling through the leafy treea. And Its mellow tones are these. Illinois Illinois, And its mellow lones arc these. Illinois '' The song has undeniably fine lines, but a a whr.b- it is medlar, and it breathes no high sentiment It has a weak and meretricious ending: "Orant and Logan and our tears ' Thai Is a pretense of an emotion whluh no one feels It might better be "chceiV than "tears." Rot It Is nnt enough for a slate ihit It hear r.reezes murmuring the i3' name What does the name mean or suggest ' Hue Is here the state aong of Jill- no,., mis", an opr-rtunlty. fr .n"', ! UU- a fine mean. ilk" lirn ggW- V, fefe men first lurnul their f ' K'tii ,, from tiie Mississippi, they it, a tribe of Indians, tall u n.M etM s I Sv ' the , asked their name, h" swwj tr0rQ llllnl " That wa-s not p H tn D -j . the tribe, but of the riVhe sfisMo . rhs. nam, -t the -ate Vv hen aJ meaning ti.ey . -pb-i We -r jmt , Thnt ii a name word, v i.m W '-r. that would lend '..tnaiaK jnu not proposing 'o write tr, thr J for Illinois, but I M.cuM Ike o to thoughtful people Of " rihSJaBsBp Jroi; ra.rloric organizations wiUiir . "MV bo to get worthy atate sods flllf |